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Mattel says that they child test these things, but so many things get past them. The kids won't see the backward shoulders or gloves. Did the child testers try to assemble Granamyr? Did the child testers bang Dragon Blaster Skeletor and Spikor together and discover peeling paint and the black plastic underneath? Did Snout Spout's trunk hold up to child play? The Goddess didn't break on child play-testing?

My 3 year old son got a He-Man for his 2nd birthday, he still has him in one piece, and his joints are still pretty much the same as they were then, just a little looser.

Every toy breaks no matter how it's tested, Transformers, Iron Man, Fisher Price crap....hell I broke a few Transformers myself trying to get them back together, mostly the ROTF ones, and a couple others. The Missiles on my sons "Repulsor Blast" Iron Man, are bending very easily....the 4" ones have small shoulder pads that come off....

Toys break no matter how they are tested, it's a long standing fact, they are only plastic and a few other materials, they are not made from Gold, like some people think MOTUC should be made from. If you twist a tight joint too much common sense says you will break it....if a material is sub par....common sense says it will break....kid testing likely finds these kinds of issues but I'm sure like Goddess & Snout, the test group would have gotten perfect samples of them, like all others....

You know a fast food test group is not going to get rotten meat in their samples....each meal is hand prepared from scratch for those....same with the sample figures, each is likely assembled from the best pieces from the batches and messed with before they are given to check joints....

I have kid tested MOTUC for over a year now myself, my son is the proof....he now has He-Man & Demo-Man, and both are perfectly fine.

And kids care nothing for backwards shoulders or paint getting knocked off, they just play....kid testing is not QC checking, it's the fact they are seeing how the toy holds up to kids, not looking for errors, that is a totally different thing.

Originally Posted by King Criss79

These figures seem rather delicate to enjoy out of package with Granamyr being the latest example. Do you think Motuc figures can endure being thrown around and played with without breaking?

Only a few out of all made are delicate, and that is final materials used....my son has beaten and tossed his He-Man & Demo-Man around for over a year, no broken limbs, the joints are somewhat looser, but not by much. So with that proof in hand I say no, they are not delicate, at least the basic figures, aside from the obvious 3....Roboto, Goddess & Snout....those have poor design and materials.

Granamyr and the rotocast figures....I would say, those are not kid worthy under say 8 or 9....but as far as the 6" main line....kids play away, but use common sense in letting younger kids have the accessories....

I have my own kid tester that says these are not as delicate as many think....the painted ones....yeah, the paint will come off if beaten around, but the figure itself will be just fine, and paint comes off my sons Hot Wheels and Transformers....no biggie....for a kid.

For my collection I will be ****** if the paint comes off, but I am not a kid, nor do I play with mine, so mine will be just fine, barring a fall from a shelf or something. I personally find nothing delicate about MOTUC except a few pieces like Swiftwinds wings and the soon to get to me Granamyr, plus those 3 bad figures.

Loose joints, tight joints, paint chips, broken upon arrival, these are all QC issues, not kid testing playability issues, so long as things stay attached that are supposed to be permanently attached to the figure under play conditions....the figure is perfectly fine. I have no issues letting my son have his own MOTUC, I don't trust Mattel mind you, but I know from first hand experience and watching my son play, He-Man is just fine.

The delicacy issue is from us as adults paying top dollar for toys and not wanting to touch them too much, plus their limited availability in re-acquiring a replacement if we ever were to break one. Mine comes from not wanting the joints to loosen or to loose the pieces....but these basic 6" figures other than a few poorly designed ones are in truth not as delicate as everyone likes to believe. If you break one, you break one, but there are likely 9,999 others that did not break their He-Man. If a joint is tight, heat it up, it will work, should you have to....no, but at least it is fixable. I have had retail toys break right out of the package.

I don't think they're as durable as the vintage MOTU figures. The big weak spot on the vintage figures is the leg joints, as the rubber tends to lose its elasticity over time, at least with rough play. Many of them are still good, though. Sometimes the waist spring gives out. Most of mine work. Other than that those vintage figures are tough.

My MOTUC He-Man, MAA & TRU Mer-Man have loose ankles. Skeletor has loose leg joints. Beast Man has a loose arm. I don't dare move my Goddess' legs for fear that they break off. CGM has great, tight joints. Just depends, I guess. I let my toddler play with my vintage figures as they're mostly bullet proof. If the legs go out I know how to repair them. The Classics line seems more fragile and I wouldn't let him play with them without supervision. But then with all the articulation I think they're really meant for posing, not for play. When you're just playing with figures like a kid, bashing swords together and whatnot, you don't need all the articulation. In fact it just gets in the way.

If I had to bet on one of my figures surviving intact into 2042, it'd be Castle Grayskullman. He's really solid.

As a MOC collector I opened just few figures to change somethin' then they went back in the box.
I would liked to do the same with the Snake Guards but they got the Black Plastic Morbo...
However I have a Kronis exposed loose, and I change its pose often and I already noticed that it begin to have loose joint....

Like I said though, loose joints are either initial QC defects (loose from box) and or part of playing (loosening over time), doesn't mean the figures are fragile in anyway.

And as I said, my then 2 year old has beaten the hell out of his He-Man, and he is still 100% intact, and his joints are looser than they were a year ago, but he still stands unassisted. And my son has since gotten my extra Demo-Man, who has as well been beaten the hell out of, and fairs the same as He-Man....I have my proof, my 3 year old....my play tester, and he gives He-Man & Demo-Man high marks for durability, and as far as I can tell the ones less durable in the 6" main line, the tally comes to about 4 or 5 out of how many?

Like I said though, loose joints are either initial QC defects (loose from box) and or part of playing (loosening over time), doesn't mean the figures are fragile in anyway.

And as I said, my then 2 year old has beaten the hell out of his He-Man, and he is still 100% intact, and his joints are looser than they were a year ago, but he still stands unassisted. And my son has since gotten my extra Demo-Man, who has as well been beaten the hell out of, and fairs the same as He-Man....I have my proof, my 3 year old....my play tester, and he gives He-Man & Demo-Man high marks for durability, and as far as I can tell the ones less durable in the 6" main line, the tally comes to about 4 or 5 out of how many?

I guess it depends on how loose they ultimately get. Loose is not the same as broken, but it's still kind of a bummer.

Not to say the figures aren't great overall. They're really cool, or else I wouldn't have bought any.

I would say no, the figures are great for average handling by an adult (not being rough), but I think some of the figures would break fairly easy in the hands of a child
I love these figures too, but I wouldn;t leave them alone with my 5 year old for too long

I see this thread is for people who have never let their kids actually play with these things....so whatever.

Adult Collectable or not, they can withstand kids, not over abusive unwatched kids maybe, but normal have fun kids. I broke many Vintage figures, heads pulled off, fingers on the ***** slap hand, broken armor....Transformers break still today....toys are toys, and meant to be played with....and if these were true "Adult Collectables" we would have sharp swords and Spikor could be used as a defensive weapon. But we have blunt spikes and rounded swords, no one said give the kids anything but the figure, I mean use common sense as to what accessories you give a kid, obviously you won't give a 3 year old Keldor's vial....but Keldor himself is just fine to play with. And you obviously won't let your kids play with anyone defective like Goddess, but 90% of these can likely withstand a kid beating it around....I know, my 3 year old has for over a year, thrown in toy bins, knocked from tables, just thrown on the kitchen floor....other toys tossed on top of them....and look, wow, He-Man is still intact, not broken, and only a little looser than before....now someone lie to me and say the Vintage toys never loosened over time, or broke with heavy play.

I see this thread is for people who have never let their kids actually play with these things....so whatever.

Adult Collectable or not, they can withstand kids, not over abusive unwatched kids maybe, but normal have fun kids. I broke many Vintage figures, heads pulled off, fingers on the ***** slap hand, broken armor....Transformers break still today....toys are toys, and meant to be played with....and if these were true "Adult Collectables" we would have sharp swords and Spikor could be used as a defensive weapon. But we have blunt spikes and rounded swords, no one said give the kids anything but the figure, I mean use common sense as to what accessories you give a kid, obviously you won't give a 3 year old Keldor's vial....but Keldor himself is just fine to play with. And you obviously won't let your kids play with anyone defective like Goddess, but 90% of these can likely withstand a kid beating it around....I know, my 3 year old has for over a year, thrown in toy bins, knocked from tables, just thrown on the kitchen floor....other toys tossed on top of them....and look, wow, He-Man is still intact, not broken, and only a little looser than before....now someone lie to me and say the Vintage toys never loosened over time, or broke with heavy play.

Maybe I'm just being a bit of a nervous nelly. I did let my toddler play with my MOTUC He-Man a bit, but always very nervously.

I never broke any of my vintage figures, but I wasn't the type of kid who bashed the toys around a lot.

Maybe I'm just being a bit of a nervous nelly. I did let my toddler play with my MOTUC He-Man a bit, but always very nervously.

I never broke any of my vintage figures, but I wasn't the type of kid who bashed the toys around a lot.

I played with my Vintage figures hard, too hard at times, and they did break, and likely under the same circumstances that would break a normal non factory defective MOTUC. But it's obvious that most aren't actually letting kids play with these things before saying anything, I know in many other posts there are others that let their kids play with MOTUC all the time, and they too have had no issues....

But I won't let my son play with my personal collection, as I want mine to stay as mint as a loose figure can stay....but that is me, and has nothing to do with the figures themselves holding up. That is why he has his own, and to be honest he wants more, but he wants ones I can't find, or would be a fortune to buy. He can play with his own as he likes so long as he is not destructive with them, and so far, his He-Man is just fine, missing a little paint on his hair from getting hit and rubbed on other toys and his toy bins, but otherwise is fine. A few of mine are loosening up from being reposed, but I expect that, they will not stay tight once you start moving parts, plastic rubs and wears even after the first movement....I expect it and deal with it....looseness is not a sign of fragility, it's a sign that the damn things are made of plastic, not Titanium. Some people act as if they never owned toys before as a kid or otherwise, and how to handle them.

And as far as Roboto, Snout and Goddess not being recalled, kid tested or not, #1, it's Mattel, apparently they would rather sell defective crap than to morally do something right about it (like selling Snout Spout again this month at $27...$7 over his original price, yet he's a fully known defective figure, even acknowledged by Mattel), #2, that is covered by it being labeled "Adult Collector" but common sense would say, never let your kids play with those factory defective ones, which is only a couple in the whole line. If Mattel was to do the right thing, they would have scrapped the defective figures when the problem was found at the factory, not sell the potentially defective ones, they could have easily written them off, since it was a factory error, not Mattel, it happens all the time in production, errors are recycled or scrapped, yet in MOTUC....apparently not. Snout happened after the factory, but Mattel should have owned up from the start, now all you can do is get a refund, or get another one this month at $7 over his original defective price....yup....sounds about right.

And for those saying they loosen under play....hello....really? What toy doesn't loosen under constant play, or even a few movements? You want the figures to stay absolutely tight....leave them MOSC.

And as for you letting your kid play with your He-Man....my son occasionally messes with my Man-E-Faces he likes turning the head, but he's about the only one I let him touch....so I am with you on that fact, but that is because they are mine and not his, I get you on that one. But his own MOTUC figures are just fine, but I don't want mine getting knocked around, there is a huge difference between ones bought especially for my kid to play with, and the ones in my personal collection. Not that those ones I own are more fragile than his, but the fact I want mine to stay in fresh from the package shape. I am a mostly MOSC collector, and I still have some MOSC, but I opened most of mine....and as a former MOSC collector, I fret at every bump only because I want more minty fresh looking figures than dented, scratched and damaged ones. But if I were to not care the condition of my personal collection, and were to treat them as simply toys....they would look like my sons toys, simply because my son would be playing with them as well, and I would let him. But I know from play paint rubs off, they loosen much more than simply reposing them from time to time, and depending on the play stress marks can form, things can get lost....so no, my personal collection, stays on my shelf, and my accessories stay in little bins. But it has nothing to do with fragility, it has to do with OCD mainly I suppose, I want my personal figures as perfect as possible for as long as possible. My son's figures....are played with and they all look like it, but nothing of his is broken, and his MOTUC is not more fragile than the Rescue Bots he has, he even has a Human Alliance Bumblebee, and he's not broken, mind you I transform it....all the friggin time....to the point if irritation....but it's not broken either.

I really have no idea, so I based my answer of NO strictly on Granamyr alone.

As for the majority of the line though, they are extremely similar to the DCU Classics - which I think hold up very well to rough play.

I can attest to that as well, as I gave my son the Green Lantern from the TRU Zodac set, and he still plays with it, and his joints are still tight, only thing I had to do was heat up the gun because it was too loose to stay attached to either forearm. Now it's fine and still nothing is overly loose after months of playing.

Mattel says that they child test these things, but so many things get past them. The kids won't see the backward shoulders or gloves. Did the child testers try to assemble Granamyr? Did the child testers bang Dragon Blaster Skeletor and Spikor together and discover peeling paint and the black plastic underneath? Did Snout Spout's trunk hold up to child play? The Goddess didn't break on child play-testing?

Are the play testers simply getting good samples?

The 'MAX took the words right out my mouth with all the miss assembled and breakage the answer is clearly.... NO. This would delay the rpoduct from shipping if they had to test (thoroughly) the figures and as it has been pointed on in the latest Gooble (108) there really is NO BUDGET to take the time and go back into production even if something goes wrong.

Maybe people should let their kids play with them before assuming all of them are so fragile....Of course there are lemons like Roboto, Goddess & Snout....and the large figures which are hollow will break easier under kid play, more so Swiftwind (wings) & Granamyr (everything apparently).

Believe what you guys like, I have my proof, and that is good enough for me....they are toys, if they do break under play, they wouldn't ever be the first toys that did, and won't be the last....But because they cost so much and are hard to get replacements for many of them are however good reasons to be extra careful with them if you don't buy them especially for kids, but if you do, whatever, it's a toy.

And for the record, my son does beat He-Man around, drops him on the floor, has even tossed him around hard, and knocked him from tables using other figures, stepped on him, used him as a hammer once, most of it before I caught him doing it and stopped him, only because I don't want him destroying his toys, which normally he is really good about not doing, but a kid is a kid, and will get into a destrucive mood if you let him, but the fact is it has all been done to He-Man & Demo-Man....and both of his figures are still in one piece, only slightly looser than when first opened, and only missing a little paint in a few places.

So think what you like, if you're going by a few figures out of as many as we have, and the fact they slapped a joke of a label such as "Adult Collector" on these things....then as an example no one would drive Fords because the Triton V8's that blew spark plugs right out of the blocks, Tempo & the Pinto were crap....and the Pinto exploded if hit the wrong way....yet all the other cars were alright and perfectly safe to drive.

There are only like 6 main line figures I would not let my 3 year old play with, now if he was 5 or so, the number would be dropped to 3, because I don't think Grizzlor & Moss Man are good for under 5, when the kids stop trying to eat things. But Roboto, Goddess & Snout Spout I would never because of the blatant defects of those figures, the rest of the basic figures are just fine.

Originally Posted by baronterror

yes of course. at least hold up as well as anything i played with as a kid. oh sure it would look played with but if you ever wanted it perfect you dont play with it.

This is what I'm saying, if you're scared to touch them, they should stay MOSC....of course the damn things will loosen if moved too much, all they are is plastic, plastic wears from movement, this is not a sign of fragility, it's a sign it's a friggin toy. I myself got over the fact they will loosen as I move them, they are not designed to stay mint forever unless you leave them packaged.

The first time is a bit of a pain, but it's easier to do after that. I've done it on 5 or 6 of my vintage figures

- - - Updated - - -

I let my toddler play with my MOTUC figures last weekend. I think I'm more satisfied about the durability of the Classics line, EXCEPT he somehow managed to rub a lot of paint off He-Man's power sword, I think because he flexed it a bit. That metallic paint seems to just flake off.